The heroes of Venezuelan resistance are...

The heroes of Venezuelan resistance are sadly not who you think they are

At long last, the tragedy playing out in Venezuela is receiving some much needed, albeit unpunctual, attention in the press thanks to the Sunday, July 30th, power grab by resident dictator Nicolas Maduro and his cohorts. In the early morning of August 1st, under the shroud of darkness, SEBIN (intelligence agency) officers of the Venezuela diktaturare-arrested Leopoldo López and Antonio Ledezma, two of Venezuala’s most well-known opposition leaders (and former – now present – political prisoners). For this, Maduro garnered even more attention from the press, for good reason.

Unfortunately, most (if not all) of the press coverage surrounding the sad tale of various Venezuelan opposition groups’ struggles for freedom are missing one majordetail…

“I send you a message of optimism, strength and faith so that we always remain on the right side of history.” (emphasis mine) Those were the closing remarks of opposition leader Leopoldo López in a video released after his arrest. In a moment of foresight, Leopoldo López recorded a video in anticipation of his own future imprisonment. “If you are watching this video right now, it’s because that’s exactly what happened: They came and I was imprisoned unlawfully and unjustly, as a prisoner of conscience — imprisoned for wanting a better Venezuela.”

Remaining on “the right side of history” is both a trademark phrase and a dogmatic obsession of socialists, the children of the Proletarian Revolution. The sad truth of the matter is that many of the opposition groups attempting to overthrow Maduro’s socialist dictatorship are themselves socialist factions of Socialist International.

Sadly, the destructive ideology of socialism is deeply entrenched in the minds of most Venezuelans.

The biggest victory for the anti-Chavez/Maduro opposition was in December of 2015, when it won a majority in the National Assembly (Venezuela’s legislative body). Opposition party leaders banded together under the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD). At least four international party affiliates of Socialist International operate in Venezuela: Democratic Action (AD), Popular Will, Movement for Socialism (MAS), and A New Era (UNT). All are also a part of the Democratic Unity Roundtable. Leopoldo López is a member of the left-of-center party Popular Will (Voluntad Popular), which is nationaly affiliated with MUD and internationally affiliated with Socialist International. Antonia Ledezma is a member of the left-of-center party Fearless People’s Alliance (Alianza Bravo Pueblo), a splinter of the Indernational Socialist affiliated party, Democratic Action, which supports “3rd Way socialism.” The Fearless People’s Alliance is also nationally affiliated with MUD, but has no international affiliation. Other member parties of MUD and their ideology include(d) Radical Cause (laborism), Justice First (humanism), Progressive Movement of Venezuela (progressivism), Progressive Advance (progressivism), Movement for a Responsible, Sustainable and Entrepreneurial Venezuela (green politics), Ecological Movement of Venezuela (green politics), and Come Venezuela (liberalism).

Tragically the opposition consists almost entirely of multiple socialist factions engaged in their own collective infighting.

Although MUD had vowed to rejuvenate the economy and free political prisoners, the opposition spent much of 2016, failing repeatedly to engage the Maduro regime in productive talks, an unintelligible waste of time.

The citizens of Venezuela took notice and began calling out “the MUD” for its failures.

“Because of its internal structure, the MUD hasn’t been able to coordinate the different views within the coalition,” said Félix Seijas Rodríguez, a political analyst. In January of 2017, MUD secretary general, Jesús Torrealba, said “This year, the MUD will transform itself and become more useful in this fight.” It is now August and conditions have only deteriorated.

On August 6, 2017, the Maduro diktatura’s newly created loyalist assembly “moved to consolidate government power Saturday, stripping the independent chief prosecutor [Luisa Ortega Díaz] of her job and cordoning off her headquarters in a move signaling a swiftly widening crackdown on political dissent,” according to the Washington Post. Venezuelans can expect more of the same; more Antonio’s, more Leopoldo’s, more Luisa’s.

Socialism brought Venezuela into this horrific mess. Socialism will not solve its problems.